In her work, Rudelius investigates the customs, rules, language and body language of people who are members of a specific community. This could be women or boys talking about sex or men who belong to a particular ethnic group. In 'Economic Primacy', it is men from the world of business that she is filming. They are in their cages (the offices in which they appear to be working) and the viewer is watching them through the bars, as it were. In a double-screen setup, we continually see one or two rooms, and in these rooms one businessman is, for instance, silently pacing up and down, while another is talking and gesticulating. But it is in fact always the same room; Rudelius built it herself as a kind of blueprint of an office. We see a succession of different me…, who are almost frighteningly sure of themselves and their business. In this way, they explain to us the meaning of money and what can be achieved with it, what could be the motivations for getting rich, and how money is able to express the value of something. Much is said about the power that money gives you. They also point out that money very certainly makes you happy, that it boosts a man's image and attracts women, that virtually anything can be bought. Rudelius lets them talk. Their answers betray her presence and some of the remarks she must have made, but we cannot hear her questions, do not see her intervene. It is as if these men, even when the camera is long gone, keep on talking about what makes them and the money tick.

Netherlands Media Art Institute, Esma Moukhtar Read more...